Kevin Bronson on February 22nd, 2013

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No group in Los Angeles has left a bigger musical footprint the past decade than the members of Rilo Kiley. Besides four albums starting with 2001’s “Take Offs and Landings,” the quartet has bred solo careers, side projects and other collaborations. Siren Jenny Lewis made two solo albums (one with the Watson Twins) and paired with Johnathan Rice as Jenny & Johnny for another, plus contributed vocals to a dozen or so other albums. Singer-guitarist Blake Sennett birthed the Elected for three albums and recently joined up with Jarrod Gorbel in a new project, Night Terrors of 1927. Bassist Pierre de Reeder did a solo album in 2008 and launched a small imprint that has released albums by Heidecker & Wood, Nik Freitas and Mike Bloom, among others. And Jason Boesel released a solo album in 2008 and has a long list of credits drumming for other bands, most recently JJAMZ.

As prolific as the foursome has been, Rilo Kiley’s “RKives,” coming on April 2 via de Reeder’s Little Record Company, figures to be more substantial that your average odds-and-sods release of archival songs, B-sides and rarities. Available as a 16-song CD (or double vinyl), “RKives” also includes a trove of photos and other band ephemera. [The band is also inviting fans to contribute to an upcoming video.]

Included is the “new” song “Let Me Back In,” which longtime fans of the band will recognize as a song that was called “I Love L.A.” when the quartet played it live. “Let Me Back In” was written by Lewis and Sennett after 2004’s “More Adventurous” with the intentions it be recorded for 2007’s “Under the Blacklight.” The song never made the album. So when the band began assembling material for “RKives,” the song was resurrected – strings were added (with arrangements by Nate Walcott), and de Reeder did the final mix.

||| Stream: “Let Me Back In”: